13 women: woman number 13
by Welly
Summary: Greg and Sara work a case. It doesn't end well.


Title: 13 women, part one: Woman number thirteen

Author: Welly

Fandom: CSI

Pairings: Nope

Status: complete. I don't post them if they're not…

Archive: If you really want to, but i would appreciate it everso if you told me...

Email: 

Series/sequel: part one in the series of '13 women' There's 3 parts in total.

Disclaimer: I have no imagination, so i borrowed these characters. Don't sue, I can't afford it.

Spoilers: some slight referrals back to the days of 'play with fire…'

Summary: Greg and Sara are working on a big case. It all goes wrong, however, when 'the suspect returns to the scene'. There is a character death, you have been warned…..

A/N Although this isn't the first fanfiction I posted, it is the first one I wrote…

"This is getting out of hand," sighed Grissom, rubbing his head. He, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and Sara were all sat round a table, sorting out assignments.

"They've found another woman?" asked Catherine.

"I'm afraid so," said Grissom. "Sara, you're the lead on these cases, you wanna go?"

Sara didn't hear what Grissom had said. She was staring through the window into the corridor, staring at Greg, wondering what he was going, why he was walking backwards.

"Sara?" asked Grissom.

"Huh?" Sara suddenly came back to reality, and realised that she had not heard a word Grissom had just said.

"Did you want to take this?" asked Grissom.

"I'm sorry," said Sara. "I was miles away, thinking about the case."

"Speaking of the case," said Grissom, "they've found another woman. You want it?"

Sara nodded. "Yes. Can I take Greg?"

"You wanna take Greg?" asked Catherine.

Sara nodded.

"That would work out good actually," said Grissom. "Cath, you can have a home invasion in Henderson. Boys, you've got a robbery turned murder in a casino, and Sara, well, you know what you've got." Grissom handed out the assignment sheets to their respective CSIs, and stood up.

Sara was the first to leave the room, she was looking for Greg. As she left the room, she almost tripped over an electrical cable. She managed to stop herself from falling smack on her face, and cursed under her breath. She regained her balance, and glared at the cable. She then followed the cable all the way down the hall to the DNA lab. The cable was hooked up to a portable CD player, but the sound wasn't the usual noise Sara was used to, it was classical music, and very dramatic music at that. "Greg?"

Greg was staring into a microscope, he did not notice Sara.

Greg was staring into a microscope, he did not notice Sara.

Sara tapped Greg on the shoulder, Greg jumped. "Whoa, Sara, don't do that!"

"Sorry," said Sara. "You busy?"

"Depends," said Greg, turning the CD off.

"On what?" asked Sara, getting annoyed.

"On what you say next," said Greg, smiling.

"Do you want to come out in the field?" asked Sara.

"Definitely," said Greg. "where are we going?"

"There's been another woman found," said Sara.

"This is like one a shift," said Greg, taking the slide out from under the microscope, walking over to the fridge.

"I'm glad you find this so funny," snapped Sara. Now she really was getting annoyed.

Greg slammed the cupboard door shut, and turned to face Sara. "Do I look like I'm laughing?! Sara, I don't find all this the least bit funny, I'm as sickened by this as much as you are. You're not the only one who's put a lot of hours into this case, y'know."

Sara was shocked. It wasn't often Greg got angry, and if it was, he didn't show it. But Sara knew that Greg was right. He'd put in more hours that most on this case, trying to find even the smallest piece of DNA evidence that would lead them to the perpetrators, the people that were doing this, but there was nothing. No evidence. All the women had been found in a river, so the water had washed away any physical evidence, and they had no primary scene. Sara thought about the 'holy trinity' that Grissom was always going on about. Killer. Victim. Location. Truth was, they only had a third of this trinity. The Victim.

Greg was stood on the river bank, watching Sara work. Greg like to watch the other CSIs work. He knew that he still had so much to learn about being a CSI, and he like the different ways in which the other CSIs processed scenes, the little differences in how they worked.

"You cold?" asked the police officer stood next to Greg.

"Not really," said Greg.

"I'm froze," said the police officer. "I had no idea it could get this cold at night."

"I've seen colder," said Greg.

"Really?" asked the police officer, as a voice emitted from her radio. The voice was from another police officer, asking for backup. "I gotta go."

"Okay," said Greg.

"Bye," said the police officer. She called down to Sara. "Bye Sidle."

"Seeya," replied Sara.

Greg watched the police officer speed off in he patrol car, and then sat down on the bank. "Sara."

"hmm?" asked Sara.

"I was thinking," said Greg.

"Go on," said Sara.

"About the case, and stuff," said Greg. "I don't think we're gonna find these guys. I mean, we don't even know how many guys we're looking for. Grissom's always saying how we should follow the evidence, but what evidence?! We have absolutely nothing to tie the perpetrators to all these women."

"think about it like this," said Sara. "If we can't tie the perps to these women, then we have to try and tie these women to the perps."

"I don't understand," said Greg.

Sara walked up the back until she could have proper eye-contact with Greg. "The river is a secondary crime scene."

"Right," said Greg.

"so that means there is a primary scene," said Sara.

"Somewhere," said Greg.

"Exactly," said Sara, "and we will find it."

"will we?" asked Greg.

"Yes," said Sara.

"Oh, I get it," said Greg. "At the primary crime scene, that's where all the evidence will be."

"Exactly," said Sara. "Okay?"

Greg nodded. "Okay."

"Good," said Sara, giving Greg a little smile. The smile then went.

"D'you want me to go in?" asked Greg.

"Would you?" asked Sara. She didn't want to go into the river, and she didn't want to force Greg to go in, but she knew that someone had to, and she was glad that Greg was volunteering.

Greg took off his shoes and socks, and pulled off his top. The wind blew cold against Greg's skin, and for a split second he wanted to put his top back on, but then he realised that however bad he was feeling, was nothing compared to what the woman in the river had been through that night. "I'll be back in a minute."

"thank you Greggo," said Sara. She felt safer knowing that she wasn't alone at the crime scene.

For the fourth time in a week, Greg jumped into the river. He hoped that the water would be warmer that it was last time, but he was wrong. Greg resurfaced, and spat river water out of his mouth. He then took a deep breath, and dived down to the bottom. The water stung Greg's eyes as much as it did the first time, but he managed to jeep them open. Greg untied the roped from the tree roots, and came back to the surface. He caught his breath, put his arm around the woman's shoulders, and swam back to the side. Greg was lucky that he was a strong swimmer. He lifted the woman out of the river, and looked around for Sara, but he couldn't see her anywhere. "Sara?"

No reply.

Greg shook his head to get the excess water out of his hair, and decided that he needed to find Sara. In order to do this, however, he needed to put his top back on, and warm up a bit. Greg climbed up the back to where the rest of his clothes were. As he pulled his top over his head, he was grabbed from behind by two men. Instinctively, Greg tried to fight them off, but he was not strong enough to take the both of them. One of the men forced Greg to the ground, and Greg hit his head so hard, he was knocked out.

When Greg regained consciousness, he could no longer feel the cold wind blowing against him. Greg figured he must be indoors. Greg wondered why he could not see, and as he moved his head, he realised that he was blindfolded. Greg also felt duct tape over his mouth, and knew that his wrists and ankles were tied together. As Greg became more alert and aware towards his surroundings, despite the pounding in his head, he heard someone screaming. He was hearing a woman screaming. He was hearing Sara screaming. Greg knew that Sara was in trouble. She was suffering, and she needed Greg's help. Greg tried to break free of the ropes around his wrists, but they were tied so tight, Greg had lost almost all feeling in his fingers. Greg hoped he wasn't getting frostbite, he would be very upset if he had to have his hands amputated, but having limbs amputated wasn't important right now, Greg told himself. The only important thing right now was Sara. Greg knew what was going to happen to Sara if he didn't help her. The same thing had happened to twelve other women in the past two weeks. Greg really didn't want Sara to become woman number thirteen. Greg didn't want Sara to become just another victim of a deranged serial killer. Sara was more important than that.

Greg gave himself a mental slap. All the dead women were important, if not to Greg himself, then to someone else. Greg remembered that the fourth woman found was married with three children. She was important. The eighth woman found had been a teacher. She was important, and Sara was important too. Greg needed to help her, because he knew what would happen if he didn't try. Sara would be raped and tortured, and then she would be taken to the river. Once there, she would have a rope tied around her neck, and she would be forced into the river. The rope would be tied to some tree root, so Sara would no be allowed to resurface, and she would drown. The same thing had happened to twelve other women, and Greg didn't want to be responsible for helping turn this dozen into a baker's one. Greg tried again to free his wrists, but the ropes were digging in too much. Greg gritted his teeth to help ignore the pain.

"You're awake," came a voice right by Greg's ear. Greg jumped. If it wasn't for the duct tape and the ropes, Greg would've given the voice a right mouthful. As it happens, he didn't.

The voice was very deep, it definitely belonged to a man. Greg shivered. Though he was indoors, he was still cold, and he wished he'd managed to put his top back on before the two men jumped him.

"Don't move," said the voice, "and don't try and escape. If you do, I _will_ kill you. Do you understand?"

Greg nodded. He understood.

"Good," said the voice. "now, I'm going to untie your ankles, and then you're going to stand up, okay?"

Greg nodded again, and sat completely still while someone undid the ropes around his ankles. Greg sontemplated kicking this person, but decided gainst it because he couldn't figure out what he'd do after that. The man grabbed Greg by the shoulders, and hoisted him to his feet. Greg felt dizzy, but after a few seconds, he was okay again. He was then marched out of the room, and the screaming stopped. Greg wondered where he was going, he didn't want to leave Sara, he didn't want to be alone. He didn't want Sara to be alone. The ground was rough on Greg's feet, he could tell he was walking on concrete, then he stopped walking. Greg heard a door open. It was a large door, and after a creak that seemed to go on forever, the door stopped, banging against a wall. The man grabbed Greg by the shoulder again, and he started walking. Greg was outside now, walking on grass, and Greg was freezing cold. He hoped he wasn't being taken to the river, but his fears were confirmed when he heard the sound of water. Greg tried to break free of the man's grip, he had to do something to try and escape, but the man just tightened his grip on Greg's shoulders, his fingers digging in.

"Sit down," said the man.

Greg was confused. Did the man want Greg to sit down on the ground right there?

The man pushed down on Greg's shoulder, and he fell to the ground. Greg was annoyed. He was getting more and more tired, and was finding it harder and harder to stay awake. Greg wished that all this would be over. He wished that he would wake up, and all this would've been a dream. But Greg wouldn't get his wish. This was not a dream, it was a nightmare, and it was very, very real.

Footsteps approached, one man, one woman. One crazed serial killer, one CSI.

"Would you like me to take your blindfold off?" came a voice in Greg's ear.

Greg didn't move. He didn't want to take his blindfold off, but he didn't want to leave it on either.

"Okay then," said the voice. "the blindfold stays on."

Greg heard Sara struggling against someone. She was pleading. Greg knew what was going to happen next. Greg held his breath and waited for it.

Splash.

That was it, Greg told himself. Sara was in the river. Soon, she would be dead.

Greg was suddenly hauled to his feet by the man with the deep voice. Struggling and fighting the whole time, Greg had a rope tied around his neck. It was so tight, Greg could hardly breathe. Greg was forced forward until finally he fell into the river….

To be continued…


End file.
